MINUTES of BOARD MEETING MEMPHIS AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY December 8, 2014 ______
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MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING MEMPHIS AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY December 8, 2014 ______________________________________________________________________________ CALL TO ORDER: A regular meeting of the MATA Board of Commissioners was called to order by Chairman Sean Healy at 3:30 p.m. on Monday December 8, 2014 1370 Levee Road Board Room. BOARD ROLL CALL: Present: Chairman Sean Healy Commissioners: Charles Pickard; Lauren Taylor; Shelia Williams; John Vergos; Martin Lipinski Absent: Vice Chairman, Andre Gibson; Kristen Bland; Roquita Coleman Quorum: Yes Staff: Lawson Albritton; Ashley Best; Alison Burton; Patti Champion; Darryl Covington; Linda Eskridge; Lavelle Fitch; Don Forsee; Tom Fox; Ron Garrison; John Lancaster; Shelia Maclin; Maury Miles; Gilbert Noble; Alvin Pearson; Guests: MCIL/STAC Attendees: None Memphis Bus Riders Union: Bennett Foster; Ray McClanahan; Betty Robinson; James Robinson Others: Alex Akah, II; Betty Anderson, Travel Trainer; Gene Burse, Livable Memphis; Lyndia Crawford, City of Memphis Law Division; Bob Edwards, First Transit; John Haas; On Track Group of TN; Aury Kanglos, TDOT; Johnnie Mosley, Citizens for Better Services; Nicholas Oyler, MPO; James Stokes; Henry Wilson, Retiree Linda Eskridge, Executive Assistant/Board Secretary welcomed all guest and thanked them for attending the last Board of Commissioners Meeting for year 2014. She wished everyone a happy Holiday Season. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Mr. Vergos moved for approval of the October 22, 2014 Board Minutes. Ms. Taylor seconded the motion and minutes were unanimously approved. Page 2 Chairman Healy stated that the meeting agenda format had been altered and due to time constraint, the audience copy did not reflect the change. GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT Mr. Ron Garrison Each Board Member received a copy of the Central Station Handbook that was put together by the Train and Trolley Museum and it contains some very historic data as well. Employee Recognition Mr. Garrison took this opportunity to recognize Ms. Patti Champion one of MATA’s great employees. Ms. Patti Champion, MATA’s payroll manager, was named, out of all the employees in the State of Tennessee, as the Tennessee Public Transportation Association Urban Support Employee of the Year. Mr. Garrison gave some great accolades to Ms. Champion, which included some of reasons she was nominated for this honor. Ms. Champion thanked all of those people that were instrumental in recommending her for this award. MATA’s Seven Guiding Principles A Power Point Presentation was shown by Mr. Garrison on the seven guiding principles that were discussed in the Board Retreat and how we can work to make these our main focus. Several meeting have taken place to discuss how these principles can best be used to improve MATA. MATA’s Culture: MATA’s aim is to improve operational excellence and a positive environment for both customers and employees. Mr. Garrison will solicit the assistance of consultants to help us through this change process. There have been some very positive changes and progress made in-house already. One main focus is the importance of the buses leaving on time. With the monitoring that have taken place with Mr. Garrison and other staff, we have seen the percentage of pull outs go from 75% pulling out late to about 4% pulling out late. So we have made some good progress in that area of reaching excellence in this area. A new scheduling committee has been formed to work with the Scheduling department to get our buses back on time. 1) Staffing: We have recently posted four trolley positions nationally through Passenger Transport, as well as online. A new committee has been formed with our operations and maintenance staff. Our main focus is having the right people in the right places. Page 3 2) FMLA: There have been a lot of absenteeism due to FMLA and staff is working with HR to help make some changes to how we administer FMLA. 3) Organizational Development: This will be a vital part of the staff retreat that will be held around the middle of December, which will geared towards the driving down the reaching excellence together through staff. A lot of progress has been made in the maintenance area already as a complete assessment has been done by First Transit. SWOT analyses were done to determine what areas to target first. A representative is coming in from GenFare to review the fare box system to determine if we are losing money in that area. There are both capital and operational funding issues in the maintenance area. We have approximately 50 buses that need replacing, but only have the money for three replacements. There are also problems with the age of our fleet and the number of miles on our buses, which is why it is important to make the extra investment in our maintenance program. 4) IT/ITS: A national expert has been hired and we are expecting a report this week from him. We have coordinated with the City of Memphis IT Division on some server issues. Through this process we will improve our data integrity and be able to provide better information to the Board as well as our customers. We are looking at assessing the IT staff, as well as setting new standards. 5) Mataplus: A first phase operational assessment was done in MATAplus under Dr. Fox’s tenure as interim general manager, with experts from First Transit. Mr. Garrison introduced Mr. Bob Edwards, Director of Business Development with First Transit who was present at today’s meeting. A second comprehensive analysis of Paratransit was completed in November, 2014. MATA will be bringing people in to do a complete focus on the organizational structure, training, as well as how we do our scheduling. We will review the eligibility process, which could provide more resources for our customer, as well as save money. A meeting will take place with all of our customers and focus groups to make them aware of what we are doing in MATAplus regarding changes that are expected in the coming months. 6) Facilities: A request for funding has been made to do an alternative analysis. The previous focus was on moving this facility at a cost of $60MM; however, we are going to work with the city engineers and others to see if we can get funding to do analysis to remain here and update and stabilize the facility where it is for the next 30 to 40 years, which might be more cost effective. We did a presentation to the Shelby County Delegation asking for money for the alternative analysis and informing them on where we are with the facility. We are in the process of completing a SWOT assessment of all MATA facilities including the facilities across the street as well as the facility that housed the credit union. Page 4 MATA is working with the Turley group on the Central Station development. Hopefully we will have something for the Board to review this spring. 7) Trolley: We have made some progress, and consultants have been on site since July. We have had regular media updates, and will do safety certifications on all vehicles that we plan to put back in service. We have met and talked about alternative to supplement the trolley service and should be bringing a proposal to the Board after the 1st of the year. The good news is we should have an actual plan to share with the Board, the media and our partners around mid- January at the latest. We want to safely restore the service as soon as possible; however, it will be incremental. The expert from Canada is here and has been unbelievable in helping to get the standards set to restore the service. Other updates: Mr. Garrison and other staff will meet early with Collins and Little regarding MATA budget, rather than waiting for April or May. Staff, as well as Consultants, has been assigned the task of determining the return on investments in the short, mid and long-term investment. Meetings scheduled with FTA officials and congressional staff to move forward with where we are, what we need, and what some of the issues are. Staff will meet in Nashville with state representative at the TPTA Day on the Hill to present some of MATA’s issues. MATA’s staff retreat is scheduled for December 16, 2014 @ Airways Transit Center. Dr. Fox talked about a Workforce Development Program. FTA issued a notice of funding opportunity a few months ago and Dr. Lipinski has been talking with MATA about teaming with University of Memphis with a proposal that would help identify and remove barriers to employment and advancement at MATA. This program is specifically designed for people working at MATA. The University of Memphis will take the lead and develop the scope of work, and MATA will be a supporting partner. The grant amount will be in the range of $200,000 to $1MM per grant, it requires 50% match, which hopefully the University of Memphis will provide. Mr. Lipinski gave a brief explanation on this as well. ACTION ITEMS: Page 5 A. FINANCE COMMITTEE 1. Resolution to Approve a Modification to Task Order #7 with Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. (SSR) for Provision of Technical Assistance Related to Trolley Vehicles – Res. No. 14-54 Discussion: Dr. Fox, Deputy General Manager, presented this resolution to the MATA Board. This is a modification on the task order approved by the MATA Board on July 28, 2014 for technical support related to the trolley system. It was determined by FTA and TDOT there was a need for additional specialized expertise from a national consultant, and Parsons Brinckerhoff had the necessary specialized expertise as well as experience working on MATA’s trolley system in conjunction with SSR.